Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
To provide cellular wireless communication service, a wireless service provider or “wireless carrier” typically operates a radio access network (RAN) that defines one or more coverage areas in which wireless communication devices (WCDs) can be served by the RAN and can thereby obtain connectivity to broader networks such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet. A typical RAN may include one or more base stations (e.g., macro network cell towers and/or femtocells), each of which may radiate to define wireless coverage areas, such as cells and cell sectors, in which WCDs can operate. Further, the RAN may include one or more controllers, which may be integrated with or otherwise in communication with the base stations. The controller may include or be in communication with a switch or gateway that provides connectivity with a transport network such as the PSTN or the Internet. With this or other arrangements, a cell phone, personal digital assistant, wirelessly-equipped computer, or any other WCD that is positioned within coverage of the RAN can then communicate with a base station and thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other WCDs served by the base station.
In general, a cellular wireless system may operate in accordance with a particular air interface protocol or “radio access technology.” Examples of existing air interface protocols include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) (e.g., 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (e.g., FDD LTE and TDD LTE), WiMAX, iDEN, TDMA, AMPS, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, MMDS, Wi-Fi, and BLUETOOTH. Each protocol may define its own procedures for initiation of calls, handoff between coverage areas, and functions related to air interface communication.
In accordance with the air interface protocol, each coverage area may operate on one or more carrier frequencies and may define a number of air interface channels for carrying information between the base station and served WCDs. These channels may be defined in various ways, such as through frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, and/or code-division multiplexing (e.g., spread-spectrum modulation), for instance.
By way of example, each coverage area may define a “forward-link” (or downlink) control channel or other resource on which a base station may transmit control messages such as system information messages or page messages to WCDs. Each coverage area may also define a “reverse-link” (or uplink) control channel or other resource on which WCDs may transmit control messages such as registration requests and call origination requests (e.g., voice calls, data sessions, and/or other “calls”) to the base station. Each coverage area may then define one or more traffic channels (e.g., on the forward-link) for carrying communication traffic such as voice data or other data between the base station and the WCD.
When a WCD first powers on or enters into coverage of the network, the WCD may detect presence of coverage and may register with the network by transmitting a registration request or attach request to a base station. At that point, the WCD may operate in an idle mode in which the WCD periodically reads a forward-link control channel to receive overhead information from the network and to check for any page messages destined to the WCD. In the idle mode, the WCD may have no assigned traffic channel resources on which to receive incoming communication traffic from the network.
When the network has a communication such a voice call or other traffic to provide to a WCD that is registered with the network but is operating in the idle mode, the network may page the WCD in an effort to then facilitate assigning traffic channel resources to the WCD. In particular, the network may transmit on the forward-link a page message addressed to the WCD. Assuming the WCD receives this page message, the WCD may then transmit to the network a page response message on the reverse-link. Upon receipt of the page response message, the network may then assign traffic channel resources to the WCD, for use to carry the communication.
Once a RAN transmits to a WCD a page message, such as voice call setup request, the RAN may wait a defined period of time for the WCD to respond. If the WCD does not respond to the page message within that period of time, the network may then re-page the WCD, possibly increasing page message transmission power and/or broadening the coverage area scope of the page. Further, the network may repeat this re-paging process a defined number of times before concluding that the paging effort failed. Upon concluding that the paging effort failed, the network may then abort the effort to provide the communication (e.g., voice, data, etc.) to the WCD.